Bobbie Lawrence Eddins (Bobbie Dean Lawrence) passed on Saturday, August 22, 2026. Bobbie was predeceased by her: husband of 60 years, Tom Frank Eddins; son, Kim David Eddins; mother, Velma Rae Devane Lawrence Shirey; and father, Roy Parker Lawrence. She is survived by her daughter and three grandchildren.

Bobbie was born in Dothan, Alabama, on October 12, 1934, and graduated from Dothan High School in 1951. She met Tom after he returned from his station in Japan during the Korean War, and they married in 1953. Bobbie began working at the GMAC office in Dothan on July 17, 1951, and transferred to the Birmingham office of GMAC when she and Tom moved to Birmingham, Alabama in 1962, so that Tom could complete his engineering degree. In 1968, Bobbie began working on her own college degree at the new State Fair Community College in Sedalia, Missouri. 

When the family returned to Birmingham, Bobbie worked at WYDE radio. Bobbie and Tom spent most of the next 24 years in the Montgomery area. Bobbie completed her BA degree at Auburn University at Montgomery while also working at the Alabama Farm Bureau (now Alabama Farmers Federation) and, later, the Alabama Bankers Association. Bobbie retired in 1996, after serving five years as the Executive Director of the Alabama Real Estate Appraisers Board.

Until Tom became too ill, Bobbie and Tom were active members of churches throughout their marriage, including Grandview Baptist Church and Ridgecrest Baptist Church (Dothan), Southside Baptist Church (Birmingham), Coosada Baptist Church (Millbrook), and the former First Baptist Church at Panama City Beach, Florida.

From the beginning of their marriage, Bobbie and Tom planned to retire to Panama City Beach, and they did so when Bobbie retired. During their 17 "beach years," Bobbie and Tom walked to the beach, "jumped the waves," gardened, made new friends, and welcomed their children and three grandchildren to the pool several times each year, until Tom passed away in 2013. Bobbie moved to live with her daughter in the Atlanta area in 2019. Bobbie was 91 years old.